Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

His eyes were full of displeasure as he looked at Han.

Despite being Jinchūriki, their relationship was far from good; in fact, it was quite terrible. It was very rare for the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki and the Two-Tails Jinchūriki of Kumogakure to be on good terms. Rōshi was short-tempered and belligerent; when he got angry, he would slam his fist on the table with Ōnoki. Rōshi had never been able to stand the taciturn man.

Even if you are a Jinchūriki, you should speak your mind when it's time to express your opinions.

Instead of being like a wooden puppet, blindly following orders without distinguishing right from wrong.

Han's almost flattering remarks did not move Onoki. He simply called out another person's name and continued to solicit opinions from everyone in this way until he had asked for the opinions of everyone except Kurotsuchi before he ended the process.

[Chapter 200: Onoki's Decision]

"Senior Suzaku, there are many Iwa ninja outside."

"This is the Iwa ninja's camp. It would be strange if we didn't see any Iwa ninja here, right?"

Nara Suzaku sat inside his tent, slowly sipping hot tea from his teacup. The tea was brought by Iwa ninja, but the tea leaves used were from the Land of Fire, a type of tea called 'Hiroro'. Its quality was only average, but its production was extremely high, and it was sold not only domestically but also abroad.

Tea trees are not grown in the Land of Earth. The barren land is so poor that even grass can hardly grow. Almost all the good land is used to grow grains, leaving no room for growing cash crops such as tea, which are not necessities.

Therefore,

All the tea is imported. Even the most common tea in the Land of Fire, Biro, is not something you can just buy in the Land of Earth. The fact that the Iwa ninja uses Biro to entertain their guests is not a sign of disrespect, but rather a proper and respectful gesture.

"Senior Suzaku, should we make some preparations?"

"Ebisu, what are you doing?"

Nara Suzaku glanced helplessly at one of the guards who had accompanied him to the Iwa ninja camp.

There were five people in the tent. In addition to Suzaku Nara, the official envoy, there were four guards, two Konoha ninjas and two Kirigakure ninjas. All of them were special Jonin, stronger than Chunin, but not as conspicuous or valued as Jonin. It really took Kakashi and Hozuki Mangetsu a lot of effort to select these few people.

Originally, I was thinking of finding a few Jonin to protect me, such as Uchiha Chihaya and Ringo Ameyuri, those two killer stars. I thought that if anything happened, having these two killer stars would greatly increase my chances of escaping!

However, he was firmly rejected by Suzaku Nara.

He came to persuade the Iwa ninja to cease hostilities, not to launch a surprise attack.

finally,

Four special jonin were selected from among the ninjas of Konoha and Kirigakure to accompany him, and Ebisu was one of them. Wearing sunglasses, Ebisu was recently promoted to special jonin. His strength was not bad, and his basic skills were quite solid. He had no weaknesses in ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu. The only problem that prevented him from becoming a jonin was that he had not yet mastered advanced ninjutsu.

There's also a minor flaw... He's a bit too lively. Nara Suzaku watched Ebisu, who was clutching a stack of explosive tags and figuring out how to set up a trap at the edge of the tent, and felt the veins on his forehead throbbing.

"Set up a few traps. If the Iwa ninja try to attack us later, we'll teach them a lesson they won't forget..."

"Sit down quietly. I've already said it, the Iwa ninja will never lay a hand on us."

"That's what Suzaku Nara said firmly."

The stern tone made Ebisu stiffen. He quickly put away the explosive tag, then sat down obediently and, imitating Genma Shiranui, picked up his teacup and slowly drank his tea.

There is absolutely no way that the Iwa ninja would lay a hand on us—Nara Suzaku had this confidence. Recalling his previous meeting with Onoki and Yotsuchi, before he could even speak, Yotsuchi clearly showed his undisguised goodwill. Most importantly, Onoki's attitude was that he did not kick him out on the spot. The long silence indicated that Onoki had already made up his mind.

Judging from Onoki's past behavior,

He firmly believed that his plan would never fail!

However, this was largely thanks to the Uchiha clan leader's victory in the Land of Hot Springs. Without that glorious victory that even brought the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki to prison, it would have been a 50/50 chance to persuade Onoki, unlike now, when he was sitting back and having nothing to lose.

"We will return safely, so don't worry!"

Suzaku Nara said calmly.

······

at the same time.

Inside the main tent of the Iwa ninja,

After consulting with everyone except Kurotsuchi, the people in the tent turned their gaze to Onoki, awaiting the Tsuchikage's decision. By the way, the result of this round of questioning was that Han abstained, four people including Kurotsuchi supported cooperating with Konoha, and the remaining six people, including Rōshi and Bunga, believed that they should continue to attack Konoha.

This number doesn't seem to be a large proportion.

Six to four,

If even one person on Lao Zi's side wavers, the situation will become a stalemate. Lao Zi is extremely dissatisfied with this outcome and glares at Huang Tu and the others with fierce eyes.

"Lord Tsuchikage?"

Old Purple stared intently at Ōnoki.

Since they failed to achieve an overwhelming victory in expressing their opinions that even the Tsuchikage could not change, the Tsuchikage's opinion will determine the Iwa ninja's strategic direction: will they join forces with Konoha to deal with Kumo ninja, or continue their southward march to fight Konoha?

“A powerful Konoha is never a good thing. Back when the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha dominated the ninja world, we didn’t dare to breathe. We knelt on the ground and begged to form a cooperative relationship with Konoha, but Madara Uchiha rudely drove us out. I almost died in the Land of Fire with Master Mu.”

Ohnoki started reminiscing about the past.

The attitude subtly revealed made Huang Tu's face turn very ugly, while Lao Zi's angry expression eased slightly.

"...You are all very young and have never seen how terrifying Konoha was at its peak. To be honest, when Madara Uchiha and the First Hokage died one after the other, I was so happy that I almost jumped for joy. Also, I wonder if you have ever thought about why we always attacked Konoha from the south during the Shinobi World Wars instead of targeting the Sand Village?"

Before anyone could answer,

Onoki continued, "Of course it's not because Sunagakure is poor and Konoha is rich. At least not entirely. Sunagakure is one of the five great ninja villages. Even if the Land of Wind is poor, it can still squeeze out some oil. The reason we keep attacking Konoha from the south is because we don't want to go back to the days when we were crawling in the dust and looking up at Konoha's glory. Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure all have the same attitude. Nobody likes the feeling of being trampled on."

Old Zi frowned impatiently.

This is way too verbose!

Can't you just give me a straight answer already? This dragging on is making him feel a little uneasy.

"If I could, I would have thought more than any of you to nip the rise of Konoha in the bud, but... it's too late." Onoki sighed. The Uchiha clan had captured the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki alive, and three pairs of Mangekyou Sharingan were wreaking havoc—the Mangekyou Sharingan was mentioned by the Cloud Ninja envoy.

This was a decision made after discussions between the Fourth Raikage and Tsuchikage.

The reason for revealing the existence of three pairs of Mangekyou Sharingan in the Uchiha clan to the Iwa ninja was to make Onoki realize the reality of the Konoha threat theory, thereby firmly placing him on the opposite side of Konoha.

only--

It seems like we've made a mess of things!

The Fourth Raikage and Tsuchikage were not very old, so they didn't have the chance to witness the overwhelming invincibility of Madara Uchiha or the First Hokage. Therefore, they didn't know the fear that Onoki felt towards the Uchiha. To this day, he still hasn't forgotten the feeling of helplessness that almost made him wet his pants when facing Madara Uchiha!

Therefore,

"Konoha has risen again. The deaths of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura did not bring Konoha down. However, we are lucky that the Cloud Ninja have tasted the bitterness first. My opinion is to end this war with Konoha."

After going around in circles, Onoki finally revealed his final decision!

"Father!"

Overjoyed, Huang Tu even forgot to address Tsuchikage-sama in front of so many people.

He couldn't help but be overjoyed. After all, before the envoys from the Cloud Ninja and Konoha arrived one after another, Onoki was still determined to attack Konoha. Only after he almost wore himself out persuading them did they temporarily slow down their attack, thanks to the weather.

He never expected Onoki to suddenly make a 180-degree turn, which surprised and delighted him!

"Bang!!!"

"Crack!"

Two distinct voices rang out almost simultaneously. Rōshi, enraged to the extreme, slammed his hand on the table, shattering it, and stood up abruptly. This four-tailed Jinchūriki with a long red beard glared at Ōnoki and demanded loudly, "Tsuchikage-sama, do you truly intend to cooperate with Konoha?"

"Old Zi!"

Huang Tu also stood up, glaring angrily at Lao Zi, "What are you doing? Are you questioning Lord Tsuchikage's decision?"

The situation inside the tent instantly became chaotic.

Almost everyone was stunned. What was going on? Was a full-blown fight about to break out?

"That's right, the Cloud Ninja is no match for the Leaf Village. Even if we defeat the army led by Jiraiya, we will still have to face another army from the Leaf Village. In that case, we might fall into the Cloud Ninja's trap and push the Leaf Village too far. If they collude with the Cloud Ninja and turn around to deal with us... it's not impossible!"

Onoki was not angry.

As if he hadn't seen the tense standoff between Lao Zi and Huang Tu, he calmly explained why he had made this decision.

"Ha ha!"

Old Purple laughed, "So, Lord Tsuchikage, you're just scared, aren't you?"

Are you scared?

As the highest leader of the village and the spiritual leader of tens of thousands of Iwa ninja, to say that he was afraid would be the greatest insult to him. When Old Purple finished speaking, Huang Tu, Wen Ya and others all changed their expressions. It was not a big problem to argue with the Tsuchikage face to face, but to say such humiliating words was completely out of line!

"You said you were scared?"

Onoki's face twitched, and he slowly spoke, almost word by word, "Perhaps you are right! I am afraid! But not afraid of death. Death is nothing to me. If I can die gloriously for the village, that would be the highest honor."

"For me, the most terrifying thing is that I might make the wrong decision and plunge the village into an abyss of no return."

He raised his head and resolutely met Lao Zi's gaze.

"Fear is fear! Don't try to hide it... Lord Tsuchikage, in your hands, we have no chance of replacing Konoha and standing at the top of this ninja world." Old Purple flung his hand and rushed out of the tent, not even glancing at the group of useless people inside who were scared like quails!

He is very clear,

Once Onoki makes his decision, there's a high chance that Wenya and the others will switch sides and support the Tsuchikage. The prestige Onoki has built up over decades of rule cannot be overturned by a few words. Cooperating with Konoha to attack Kumogakure is an inevitable outcome unless Onoki changes his mind.

His extreme anger made him unwilling to stay even a moment longer.

He felt as if a fire was burning inside him.

His heart was burning with pain!

Lao Zi's departure brought silence to the tent.

Just as Old Purple had thought, after Onoki made his decision, even though Bunya and the others were still unwilling, they did not go back to oppose the Tsuchikage's decision. They believed that the Third Hokage would lead the Iwa ninja out of the storm and towards a bright future!

"Chinese."

Onoki opened his mouth.

"Lord Tsuchikage?"

"Go and keep up with Lao Zi, don't let him do anything irrational."

You mean...?

"Although the possibility is slim, when Old Purple gets angry, he acts recklessly... Go and keep an eye on the envoys from Konoha and protect them."

"Yes, I'll go right away."

Han immediately stood up and rushed out like the wind.

“Father…Lord Tsuchikage, Senior Old Purple wouldn’t do such a thing, would he? Although he has a bit of a temper, he always acts with discretion.” Huang Tu defended Old Purple. Despite their previous confrontation and tense standoff, Huang Tu believed that they were simply considering the village from different perspectives, and that their actions were all for the village’s benefit.